Finance Ministry speeds process to boost civil servant salaries

BANGKOK, Aug 4 — The Ministry of Finance is speeding up the process to raise salaries of government officials.

The pay rise focuses on those earning only Bt9,000 per month.

Rungson Sriworasat, permanent secretary for finance, said that as the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) planned to increase the salaries of government officials, he discussed the pay rise with Comptroller General Manas Jamveha. Initially they plan to raise salaries government officials earning Bt9,000 a month.

Mr Rungson also said that the government officials holding bachelor’s degrees already received at least Bt15,000 per month and they could make ends meet with the sum.

He promised to carefully consider the impact of the upcoming pay rise for government officials with lower degrees on the salaries of those with bachelor’s degrees.

Mr Rungson said that the Ministry of Finance would conclude the discussion with concerned agencies this week. He said that the rise would increase government spending by about Bt10 billion but the state could afford that amount.

Kulit Sombatsiri, director-general of the State Enterprise Policy Office, said that the salary increase for government officials would prompt him to consider the pay scale of state enterprise employees but any action would focus on low income staff.